The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

 

 

By: Peter Lewis

 

On Saturday March 8, a Boeing 777 from the Malaysia Airlines fleet took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Selangor, Malaysia en route to Beijing Capital International Airport.  A veteran flight crew and 227 passengers were on board for the 2,700 mile flight were prepared for a seemingly normal flight.  However, forty five minutes into the flight, air traffic control lost track of the plane over the Gulf of Thailand between Malaysia and Vietnam.  When the flight’s transponder stopped working the Malaysian Air Force took over attempting to track the planes.  Civilian and military radars both show the plane was very off course and its last known location was over the Pulau Perak Islands in the Strait of Malacca .

 

After this, media from all corners of the world converged on Southeast Asia to find out how a flight in a post 9/11 world could disappear without a trace.  As the navies of China, Vietnam, Malaysia, the US, and many other countries, went to a search area that initially looked to be the area surrounding Malaysia, grew larger and eventually engulfed the entire Indian Ocean. 

The first scenario had to do with two passengers using stolen passports found in the records, recently identified as Iranians Pouri Nourmohammadi and Delavar Seyed Mohammad Reza.  This was confirmed by INTERPOL and the Malaysian Police, yet it’s not believed they are involved in any terrorist groups or had any intentions.  If any human element was to be considered, the pilots became the suspects.  After Malaysian authorities and air travel experts agreed that the course change had to be done by professionals, and with no evidence of the men with the fake passports having flight training, the investigation grew more complex. 

 

Other scenarios like a meteor strike, mechanical failure, as well as an Illuminati cover up have been talked about, but like the pilots and fake passports, there have been much more questions than answers.  It will be a long time before the plane is most likely found and the black box only has weeks left before it becomes useless in the sea, yet so far this is what the world and investigators know and believe to have happened:

March 8:

Flight 370 carrying 239 people takes off en route to Beijing, 45 minutes in contact is lost, hours later once the plane missed its arrival time at Beijing Capital International Airport, the flight is reported missing.

An international search party begins to find Flight 370

 

March 9:

Debris and oil believed to be from the plane are found south of the Tho Chu Island.

The search area expands as evidence suggests the plane went west.

Stolen passports found to in possession by two Iranian men.

 

March 10:

Oil slicks found, test negative for jet fuel.

China deploys multiple satellites to join the search effort, as the majority of passengers were of Chinese citizens.

 

March 11:

INTERPOL declares that the two Iranian men in possession of stolen passports, were not linked to the disappearance.

 

March 12:

Chinese satellites detect possible debris in the South China Sea, but crews find no evidence of plane

Malaysian government receives info from Flight 370 hours after its systems failed

 

March 13:

The US search team begins looking into the Indian Ocean as the spot where the plane may have possibly gone down.

 

March 14:

Investigators discover that Flight 370 was very well still in control by someone when it lost contact

 

March 15:

Malaysian authorities search homes of pilots, investigation begins to look into the pilots as the lead suspects.

 

March 17:

 

Australia leads search into Southern Indian Ocean

 

March 18:

China starts search in its northern region

 

March 19:

 

Investigation into pilots learns the co-pilot had deleted information from his home flight simulator, experts began to attempt to recover files from the system; the investigation begins to question the pilots as suspects.

 

March 20:

Aircraft and ships rush to Southern Indian Ocean as satellites detect two objects possibly from Flight 370

 

March 21:

Search on a 1,900 mile area in the Southern Indian Ocean, southwest of Perth, becomes the new hotspot

 

March 22:

Chinese satellites detect two large objects in the new search area, but do not confirm if it belongs to Flight 370

 

March 24:

Australian search planes detect more objects in the search area, one appearing to be an orange rectangle, the typical look of an airplanes black box.

Malaysian government officials announce, “beyond a reasonable doubt,” that Flight 370 crashed in the Southern Indian Ocean, no survivors presumed.

 

March 25:

Southern search area narrows, northern search area called off, weather slows down progress.

 

March 26-present:

Multiple countries still searching for debris of wreckage.